Immigration Reform: Should We Treat Engineers Differently Than Bricklayers?

Whisper it softly, but signs of sanity are breaking out in the G.O.P. Ten days after John Boehner wisely backed down on the threat of refusing to raise the debt ceiling, four Republican senators, led by Marco Rubio and John McCain, have joined four Democrats, including Chuck Schumer, to propose a framework for immigration reform. By containing principles that have bipartisan support from the start, the framework—or at least some version of it—has a good chance of eventually becoming law.

Inevitably, most of the focus will be on the proposal to provide an estimated eleven million illegal immigrants with a “pathway to citizenship.” Some conservative Republicans, and many of their constituents, favor rounding up these same people and deporting them. Mitt Romney’s bright idea was to make things so tough for them that they would choose to “self-deport.” Under the bipartisan plan, illegal immigrants would be able to stay where they are. As long as they register with the government, undergo a background check, and agree to pay any back taxes they owe, they will be granted “probationary legal status,” which will allow them to live and work legally in the United States. At some unspecified future date, after border security has been beefed up to the satisfaction of a newly appointed panel of pooh-bahs, they will be able to obtain a green card.

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